This is an excellent subject for deepening your understanding of where some of the key ideas in finance come from. It provides a nice stepping stone to higher level studies in finance that will prove very valuable to students considering a PhD or MPhil in finance. FINC6009 provides a good foundation for understanding some of the important academic literature that you will struggle to handle if you only take the more 'standard' finance electives such as FINC6010, FINC6014, FINC5001 etc. You will learn how to employ mean-variance analysis in depth to select optimal portfolios, how to derive the CAPM pricing equation from first principles and how fund managers employ quantitative screening models in practice (this presentation is realistic too as we used similar procedures in the funds management industry. You'll also learn about various performance measurement techniques. There is some mathematical rigour, but the subject is more manageable for students without a strong mathematical background than FINC6005 Advanced Asset Pricing. Indispensable knowledge for students looking to dig deeper into the key ideas and taught by one of the best lecturers I have ever had (Hamish Malloch, one of my PhD supervisors). I took this subject in 2014 (I could only select from 2020-2023 in the drop down list) but I believe it remains similar. I'm well-placed to help students in this subject having placed first in the course with a final mark of 92%.